Facsimile recording system



Spt. 12, 1939. w. KiMWCH 2,172,539

FACS IMILE RECORDING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 15, 1958 4 7/ I WASTE BOTTLE F 1 79 f 4 Z5 ATOM/25R 77 AIR 7 w A 6/ COMPRESSOR 55 INVENTOR. I w/ IAM KIMMICH 59 53 BY Z ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 12, 1939 uui'rso STATES FACSHVIILE RECORDING SYSTEM William Kimmich, -Flushing, N. Y., assignor to Radio Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application January 15, 1938, Serial No. 185,125

The present inventionrelates to recording systems, and in particular, to facsimile recording systems in which signalling indications are to be permanently recorded by the use of vaporized ink.

In the prior art facsimile recording systems 'using vaporized ink have been used and such systems as typified by U. S. Patent No. 1,765,448 to Ranger and U. S. Patent No. 2,100,204 to Shore have beenused with considerable success. However, it is found in such systems that where a drip trough is provided below the nozzle through which the vaporized ink is projected upon the record surface, certain maintenance difliculties arise together with, upon occasion, inaccuracies of reproductions brought about by splattering of ink from the drip trough.

It is the object of the present invention, therefore, to .provide an improved vapor recording system.

A further object of the invention is to provide a vapor recording system in which the maintenance and operating difficulties are reduced.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a vapor recording system in which splattering of condensed vapor upon the record surface is overcome and prevented.

Other and further objects will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following description and claims in connection with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing,

' Fig. 1 shows a side view, of the vapor recording gun embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a plan view of the vapor recording gun embodying the invention; and

Fig. 3 shows schematically the recording system embodying the invention.

In the prior art of vapor recording systems, an air compressor is used to supply air to an ink vaporizing unit to produce a vapor in which particles of dye are suspended. The vapor thus produced is projected through a flne nozzle onto the record surface. Interposed between the fine nozzle and the record surface is a shutter actuated by the recording signals. Alternatively there may be provided on either side of the nozzle a pair of plates to which the signals are supplied, utilizing the electrostatic field set up by the applied signals and the charge produced in a vapor due to its flowing through the fine nozzle to deflect the stream of vapor away from the record surface. Or again, a liquid shutter of the type described in U. S. Patent No. l,84i,452 to Ranger may be used. In any of theselystems.

there must be provided a container to receive the surplus vapor or the liquid resulting from the condensation of the vapor which does not strike the record surface. It should be noted that in the systems disclosed by the above referred to patents, the vapor flows continuously and is prevented from striking the record surface by the shutter. During the time intervals when the shutter i's intermediate the nozzle and the record surface, the vapor striking the shutter condenses to form a liquid, which liquid then drops off the shutter, and the purpose of the drip trough is to receive this waste liquid in order to keep the apparatus clean and to prevent condensed vapor from reaching the record surface at the time intervals when the shutter is actuatedby the signals.

Difliculty has arisen in actual operation in that the drip trough, which necessarily must be small in order to keep the dimensions of the apparatus reasonable, must be emptied at rather frequent intervals because of its small capacity. The operation of removing the drip trough to empty the contents thereof has always been accompanied by the difliculty of some of the condensed vapor now in the form of a liquid, spilling over, getting on the operators hands, and otherwise marking apparatus, floors, furniture and the like. In addition to this, the guard shield which is generally provided on the trough has formed on its free edge little droplets of liquid so that when the shutter is actuated by the signals so that the stream of vapor from' the nozzle may reach the record surface, some of the droplets are forcibly carried off of the guard shield and deposited upon the record surface, causing splattering, i. e areas of heavy deposit of ink which results in a mutilated record being produced.

According to the invention, the necessity for removing the drip trough to dispose of the waste contents is done away with by automatically maintaining the level of the waste liquid at a predetermined value and at the same time overcoming any tendency toward splattering.

Referring to the drawing, the invention will now be described in detail. In Figure 3 I have shown a compressor 63 flttedwith an outlet GI and an air intake 65. The outlet il is coupled to an air tank 59 which serves to smooth out fluctuations in pressure. as well as to store up air under pressure. A pipe 51 leads to a reducing valve 15 which is provided with a gauge 11 for purposes of regulating the air pressure fed to the atomizer 55 through the pipe 18. The atomizer may be of any suitable form such as that known to the art as the De Vilbiss although it is preferred to use an-atomizer of the type described in the copending application of P. J. Barnes, intitled "Ink vaporizing apparatus filed January 14, 1938, and bearing Serial No. 185,073.

The air under pressure flowing through the atomizer 55 atomizes a suitable ink such as that described in U. S. Patent No. 2,100,204 to Shore, and the ink vapor from the atomizer led through the pipe 49 to the nozzle 41 of the vapor recording gun 53 in front of which is disposed normal to it a record surface drum 4|. Interposed between the nozzle and the drum is a shutter 45 actuated by an electromagnet 5| to which is fed the signals by means of the terminals 8|. Disposed below the nozzle is a drip trough 43 which has a shield 83, the edge of which is positioned just below the nozzle. Through one of the side walls of the trough 43 there is attached a pipe 13 positioned between the top and bottom of the trough. The other end of the pipe 13 is attached to a waste bottle II, to which waste bottle is also attached a pipe 69. The cover of the waste bottle, to which the pipes 69, Iii are attached, is of the type to provide substantially an air tight fitting when screwed onto the bottle. The other end of the pipe 69 is attached to the intake pipe 65 at a point 61 which is intermediate the opening of the intake pipe to the air and its connection to the compressor. Compressors of this type provided with an automatic cut-out are available on the open market and may be of the type known as 4 Keg Compressor Model B5, sold by The Hub Engineering Corporation in New York city. The compressor 63 is generally provided with an automatic cut-out so that when the pressure in the air tank reaches a predetermined value, the compressor is stopped. This is provided so that the compressor need only run intermittently, thereby saving power. When the pressure drops below a predetermined value, the compressor is 'automatically started up again. It will be seen in this system that when the compressor is running, the air flowing through the intake pipe 65 creates a reduced pressure at the throat of the pipe 61, which reduced pressure or partial vacuum is transmitted through the pipe 89, the waste bottle II, the pipe 13, to the point of connection of the pipe 13 and the waste trough. The differential pressure between atmospheric and the partial vacuum created in the pipe I3 acts upon any liquid above the lower edge of the opening of pipe 13 in the trough to cause the liquid to flow, through the pipe 13 into the waste bottle. This waste bottle may. be of a large capacity, for example on the order of one quart capacity and under such conditions, the bottle even when the system is operating twenty-four hours a day, need only be emptied once or twice a week. It will thus be seen that because of the automatic removal of the waste liquid from the trough 43 by the vacuum, the operator need not soil his hands, nor is there any occasion for any ink to spill on the apparatusto mar its appearance.

A further advantage arises, however, from the fact that it only requires a very short running time of the compressor to lower the level of the liquid in the trough 43 below the point where no more ink flows through the pipe 13 to the waste bottle. Under these conditions, a gentle flow of air begins to flow through the pipe 13 and this flow of air passing over the shield 03 helps to draw down any condensed liquid into the trough so that the condensed liquid, which in the absence of .applicant's invention would only gradually settle to the trough under the influence of gravity, now is rapidly removed and thus any splattering is completely avoided.

As a further aid to an understanding of the invention, I have shown in detail in Figs. 1 and 2, a side view and plan view respectively, of the gun 53 shown in Fig. 3. In Fig. 1 the tube 9 corresponds to the tube 49 of Fig. 3, while the nozzle is shown at 4, corresponding to the nozzle 41 of Fig. 3. In front of the nozzle is shown the shutter 3, corresponding to the shutter 45 of Fig. 3, while the shield 5 corresponds to the shield 83 of Fig. 3. The trough 6 corresponds to the trough 43 of Fig. 3, and attached to one side of the trough I is the pipe I! which corresponds to the pipe ll of Fig. 3.

In practice, the difference in pressure between which the compressor is turned oil and on is chosen so that the interval during which the compressor is not running does not provide sufllcient time to completely fill the trough 43. By this choice of conditions, there is no possibility for ink to fill up the trough before the compressor has an apportunity to reduce the level below the pipe 13 at its point of attachment to the trough. As pointed out, the flow of air, when the trough is cleared of the waste liquid through the pipe 13, is small, but maintained sufllcient to clear the guard shield of any ink which has collected thereon. This is necessary in order to prevent any interference with the stream of vapor from the nozzle 4. The stream of vapor from the nozzle 4 is of considerable velocity, many times greater than that of the flow of air through the pipe 2|, so that the gentle flow of air does not break up the recording vapor stream.

It will thus be seen that my invention has overcome the operational and maintenance diillculties of the prior vapor recording systems and at the same time results in improved records being made, since all or any splattering is avoided and overcome.

Various other modifications and changes may be made to the arrangement herein disclosed and shown without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and therefore, I believe myself entitled to use and make any and all of these modifications which fall fairly within the spirit and scope of the hereinafter appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a system for vapor recording of signals, an air compressor having an inlet and an outlet, a tank connected to the outlet of the compressor, an atomizer connected to the air tank, a signal controlled vapor recording unit connected to the atomizer, said recording unit having a drip trough and a pipe connection between the drip trough and the inlet of the compressor.

2. A vapor recording system comprising a compressor having an air inlet pipe, an ink vaporizer, means to supply compressed air from the compressor to the ink vaporizer, means to supply vaporized ink from the atomizer to a record surface under the control of signals, and means including the air inlet pipe for withdrawing ink vapor condensing between the supply means and the record surface.

3. A vapor recording system comprising a record surface supported upon a platen, means to project a stream of vapor along a predetermined path toward the record surface, signal controlled means to deflect the stream of vapor perpendicular to the'record surface and in close proximity thereto, a pipe means for supplying recording vapor to said nozzle, a signal control shutter positioned between said record surface and said nozzle and movable along a path perpendicular to the axis of said nozzle under the control of electrical signals, a vapor shield positioned between said signal control shutter and the record-surface, said shield being positioned below the aperture in said nozzle, and a condensed vapor trough positioned beneath said nozzle and shutter and supporting said shield, and a vacuum line connected to said trough.

WILLIAM KDILLICH. 

